What Went Wrong in 1994 and Will It Happen Again?

Hello again, Raider fans. Another guest column by Mike Green, on the new coaches, lightly edited by yours truly:

Let’s tackle the first part of the question first, what exactly did go wrong in 1994? I did my homework; I went to the source that I trust the most, to perhaps the most parroted voice in The Raider Nation, myself: AKA my alter ego, The West Side Pirate, of course. I looked up my articles that were published back then in Silver and Black Illustrated, and it all came back to me once again in detail.

In 1994 and what became Art Shell’s last year as Coach of the Raiders, we set a league record (at the time) of 156 penalties by an obviously seriously undisciplined team. Also in 1994 the Raiders gave up the second most sacks in the AFC, the result of holding onto the ball too long in their ancient vertical offense. In ’94 we did not make the playoffs despite having a much better roster than the current one. In 1994 Art Shell had serious locker room issues as the

result of the faulty play calling of Tom Walsh. In fact, as a result

of Walsh’s bad play calling, it got to the point that year where Jeff

Hostetler and Tim Brown would not talk to Tom Walsh. 1994 was a year

of full-blown meltdowns, of angry confrontations on the sidelines

between Jeff Hostetler and Coach Art Shell and between Tim Brown and

Tom Walsh. If you remember the game in week seven against the Miami

Dolphins, you’re as die hard a fan as I am. This highly visible full-blown sidelines argument in that game was the result of Jeff Hostetler calling his own plays in the huddle and ignoring the calls Tom Walsh was sending in. The Walsh plays made no sense at all to Jeff Hostetler or to Tim Brown in a game that should have been easily won, but was not. The Raiders lost to the Dolphins 20 to 17 on that Sunday, October 16, 1994. At the end of that year ESPN reported that Jeff Hostetler had had enough of that offense and that he would not honor the next year of his contract with the Raiders.

This would strongly suggest then, with Hostetler’s position on Tom

Walsh’s offense, the Raiders were then forced to make a decision. It

was all too apparent that they had lost the locker room with that

offense, and that meant someone would have to go: either Tom Walsh or

Jeff Hostetler. Fortunately it was Tom Walsh and unfortunately it was

also Art Shell, while Jeff Hostetler stayed on and Mike White was then promoted to Head Coach.

Statistics and the dysfunctional relationships under the stress of an

offense which did not work makes for good analytical information;

however, let’s break down the 1994 Raiders’ offense and see what went

wrong specifically. And sad to say, you will see the same specific

problems next year, unless Walsh and Shell take a much different

approach, which I will have to see to believe.

Some facts: This is what NFL football analyst Ron Jaworski said after

the 1994 Raiders season and his assessment of Tom Walsh’s vertical

offense: “There are few offenses in the N.F.L. as poorly designed as

> the Raiders’. The Raiders’ vertical offense does not give the Raiders enough options.”

After breaking down the Raiders’ game films, Jaworski went on to talk

about how he timed how long Hostetler had to hold on to the ball and

the extra long routes they had to run in their vertical offensive

system. Jaworski continued: “I timed every one of Hostetler’s passes

in a game against the Chargers. It takes him 3.5 seconds to 4.0

seconds to throw the ball! In the NFL the average a quarterback holds

on to the ball in a three-step drop is 1.5 seconds, in a five-step

drop it’s 2.1 seconds. In the NFL you had better have the ball out of

your hands in a seven-step drop in 2.7 seconds. Hoss was holding on to the ball for 3.5 to four seconds!”

Jaworski concluded: “You cannot last holding onto the ball in the NFL

for four seconds!”

This, Raider fans, is why the Raiders got so many holding calls and so many sacks in 1994. And this is what you will see next year if they run that same offense of our ancestors’ era.

If you’re not a big fan of former quarterback and football analyst Ron Jaworski, fair enough. Then take it from 1994 Raider insider and

backup quarterback Todd Marinovich: “The Raiders offense is in the

dark ages and is a dinosaur of the past.” Marinovich talked about how

he and Tim Brown used to conspire to call their own plays rather than

to run the Jurassic ones of back in the day of Fred Blitnokoff and

Hippie era football.

Not a big fan of Todd Marinovich? Then take it from Jamie Williams, a

former 49er Tight End, who was on the Raiders’ roster in 1994 and who

won Super Bowls with the San Francisco 49ers. Jamie Williams said this about the 1994 Raiders offense: “You have to change with the times. It is a much different game than it was years ago. There is a new type of athlete out there now and the game is much faster than it used to be. You have corners that are as fast, if not faster, than receivers now. You have linemen who are as fast as halfbacks used to be. These guys at this level are great athletes, so you have to change with the times as an offense and try to work around that. If you look at my old team the 49ers when we were winning Super Bowls, we got the ball out of the quarterback’s hand and into the players’ hands and let them work their magic in quicker hitting passes, which is more in line with the speed of today’s game. On the Raiders offense of the 60’s and 7O’s in today’s game: “It is like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole, it just does not fit.” Raider fans cannot be encouraged that Jamie Williams was in referring to Tom Walsh’s Offense. Can you say, “Uh Ohhh?!”

Tom Walsh went on to design breakfast menus for a Bed and Breakfast

place that he ran and, under him, you cannot help but wonder if Goose Egg’s will be on the menu for our offense and our scoreboard next

year. Art Shell had better wake up real quick and try something

different than what we saw in 1994 because it’s doubtful that Walsh

has ever seen the new zone blitz schemes of twenty first century

football. So, what will he do versus the Steelers? By simply cheating

the strong safety into the Box and running Cover 1, I watched the

Bills shut down the Raiders’ running game in the 1990 and 1993

playoffs. Then, once they took away the running game, they simply

blitzed the shiznit out of our quarterbacks. No necessary simple

adjustments were made by Walsh back then, so how is he going to fare

in today’s game? Raider fans, just don’t run to Vegas with money on

the Raiders. Unless they do it differently next season from the way

they did it back then and do it with a much less talented roster as

well, for the first time in my life I agree with all the dead-last

Raider predictions.

Due to highly questionable decision-making of late and loyalty issues

to Coaches, we have entered a new era where coaches and free agents

are passing up opportunities to be associated with the Raiders.

All I can say to Aaron Brooks is, “Welcome to the Oakland Raiders and

the Raider fans.” But we had better hope the Raiders put their first

pick on a quarterback, because he will be the only quarterback on the

roster young enough to survive the beating he’s going to take under

Art Shell’s boy Tom Walsh; And Tom Walsh had better bone up real quick on the principles of modern offensive football. He had best do this because he is going to find real quick that Don Mosbar, Max Montoya and Greg Skrepenak don’t work on that line any more. Nor do we have any Eric Dickersons, Marcus Allens, or Bo Jacksons at Halfback any more.

SO WILL IT HAPPEN AGAIN? Only Art Shell can answer that question and

it is my hope that Tom Walsh does not cost him his job because we all

love Shell. Good luck Coach Shell and I am telling you right now in

March, you are going to have to at least bring that offense up to the

1980’s if you are going to survive in today’s game. You are going to

have to bone up on how to stretch a defense horizontally for short

yardage and Red Zone situations. You are also going to have to do some three and five step drop passing, if you don’t want Brooks to get killed and if you want to win. You are going to have to give

defenses some different looks and mix things up a bit, passing out of

“Trips” on third downs only won’t work today because it hardly did

back then. This is especially true with that roster you have, it strengths and weaknesses, along with the hand of players you have